It’s all relatives: Summer is the time for annual reunions

It’s reunion time, so here’s some information on a couple of reunions that take place every year. But keep in mind that there are plenty of “occasional” reunions as well, so I hope that summer finds you getting together with relatives to share information.

The State of Maine McKusick Family Reunion will be held at 11:30 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 3, at the McKusick Family Farm in Parkman.

The farm is located on Route 150, about three miles south of Guilford on the road to Skowhegan. The event will be held under a big tent, rain or shine.

Bring your picnic lunch and a folding chair. A grill will be available for those who wish to cook. Lawn games will be available for the young.

For information, call Carl McKusick at 876-2252, or host Mark Storms, 846-9422.

“We hope all with a McKusick connection will come and visit with your cousins,” Carl said.

When the first census was enumerated in 1790, there were but three Greenlaw families in the District of Maine. By 1880, there were more than 300 people named Greenlaw named in the Maine census, many of them on Deer Isle.

The Greenlaw Family Association will hold its Greenlaw Family Reunion July 24-27 in conjunction with the 27th New Brunswick Highland Games & Scottish Festival in Fredericton, New Brunswick.

The Home Clan – that’s the surname Home, together with the Greenlaw Family Association, will be the Honored Clan at this summer’s games. The Patron of the reunion is Lt. Gov. Herm?n?gilde Chiasson of New Brunswick.

Activities include a genealogy workshop at the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick, Greenlaw Family information sharing and the entry of data into the association’s genealogical database, a dinner with entertainment and the Highland Games.

For more information on the Highland Games, visit www.highlandgames.ca.

The Greenlaw Family Association was founded in 2004 by Stephen Holmes Snell, an historian and active genealogist who was the group’s first president until his death on Jan. 10.

This year marks the 255th anniversary of the arrival of William and Jane Greenlaw and their family in America. In the summer of 1753 they left Greenock, Scotland, the 18th century port area for Glasgow, and sailed across the Atlantic aboard the brig Dolphin, landing near the present town of Warren, Maine.

Greenlaw, which means “verdant hill,” is an old family name from Berwickshire in the Scottish lowlands near England. The Greenlaws are a sept, or family, of the Home Clan and, as such, are entitled to wear the Home Clan tartan.

Five years ago, the American Greenlaw Tartan was designed, and in 2005 it was registered with the Scottish Tartan Authority as the official tartan for the Greenlaws of North America.

During the American Revolution, many Greenlaws were Loyalists with their allegiance to the British Crown. They later migrated to St. Andrews, New Brunswick, which was then part of Nova Scotia.

For more information concerning the Greenlaw Family Reunion, contact Rick Hernan at greenlaws@westpa.net; Barbara Britton at 104 West Upper Ferry Road West Trenton, NJ 08628; Dale Winston Greenlaw, 506-466-3353, glordale@nbnet.nb.ca; or visit www.greenlawfamilyassociation.com/.

Congratulations to Diane Monroe Smith of Holden for receiving the 2008 Warren Randall Award for historical research and achievement from the Joshua Chamberlain Civil War Round Table of Brunswick.

Monroe, who works at Bangor Public Library, is the author of “Fanny and Joshua: The Enigmatic Lives of Frances Caroline Adams and Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain” and “Chamberlain at Petersburg: The Charge at Fort Hell.”

The second book is based on Chamberlain’s previously unpublished, first-person account of the Battle of Petersburg and his near-fatal wounding.

Smith’s extensive research and annotation, along with maps essential to the study of the battle, researched and prepared by the author’s husband, Ned Smith, have earned enthusiastic reviews from Civil War literary sources.

3434. WHEELER-CARD. Roswell or Rosswell Wheeler was born about 1812. Census and his sons’ death certificates show him married to Elizabeth Card from Oromocto, New Brunswick. Census shows him as having sons Albin (?), born about 1848; Orlando Leslie, born Nov. 8, 1852, in Skowhegan; and Preston, born Feb. 14, 1862, in Canaan. Orlando’s death certificate indicates Roswell was born in Skowhegan, while Preston’s death certificate indicates Canaan. Info on Roswell, his siblings and parents would be greatly appreciated. I have lots of descendant info to share. Mark Smith, 58 Dartmouth St. Apt. 2, Old Town ME 04468; Mark.Smith@ypg.com

Send genealogy queries to Family Ties, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor, ME 04402; or e-mail queries to familyti@bangordailynews.net.